From Bullet Journal to Filofax

After almost 2 months of using a Bullet Journal, I’ve come to the conclusion that it just wasn’t doing it for me. I love that you can tweak the original concept to make it yours in every way, but even when I streamlined it a bit, it still wasn’t cutting it. More than anything else, I discovered that I really, really need a weekly view, and while, yes, I could draw one into the BuJo by hand, I would then be creating a yearly, monthly, weekly, AND daily set-up in it. Redundant and overkill. Plus, lots of use of a ruler.

Love this purple Malden!

Pretty in pink.

Using them as notepaper.

Random lists.

Week on two pages

Week on one page!

Note page

So the other day I moved back into my beloved Malden (seriously, it feels like butter; I can’t stop holding it), and mucked around with its set-up til it worked for me. Also, hell, no, I did not pay that much for mine. Amazon FTW!

Anyway. Right off, when you open it, Hello, Kitty! greets you. I’m not even a Hello, Kitty! fan, but it’s cute, and it’s a sticky pad. 🙂 Section one has my unused pages from the end of last year, placed in upside down so I don’t forget that they aren’t actually the dailies for this year (that would so be something I would do), to be used as scribble paper.

Section two has the pages for actual lists that I want to keep, and section 3 has the week-on-two-pages for 2016 (I keep them at the back so there is a cushion between the left-hand pages and the front of the Filofax to make writing easier). That calendar came with the Malden, and it isn’t my favorite, but the Page-per-Day (the ones that are scribble paper now), while having a lot of room, didn’t help with my need for a weekly view.

I checked out the Filofax site today, and, Lo!, look what I found!!!! I didn’t even know there was such a thing!!! In the “week on one page” picture above, you can see how I drew the lines that correspond to the ones in the week-on-one-page picture in the link, and the size of each day is totally doable, because the next page is…a note page!!! I can see my week at a glance, AND have room for notes! I’m going to order it ASAP!!

As for the BuJo, I may still use some of the signifiers (like task, event, note, appointment), but nothing else. I gave it a try, but it just didn’t call to me as a permanent thing in the end, and I wish all who love the idea to pieces much happiness with it. If you’re curious about BuJos, there’s a community on G+, lots of youtube videos, lots and lots of pictures on Instagram…and probably some on FB, too.

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5 thoughts on “From Bullet Journal to Filofax”

If it works for you, do it! I have tried filofaxes before and find them too constricting. But my life is obviously not as hectic as yours (I tried weekly views in bujo and found them redundant) – so the only lines I have to draw is the month grid (and that’s once per year!).

I was a Day Timer person from my days in the mortgage business and I need that structure but I like the other things that come in the Passion Planner as well as the structure it offers. Plus, I get a chance to use markers and stickers and washi tape and stuff! It’s just like being back in kindergarten. Going to use color to keep all my business stuff (all of my businesses! lol!!!) coded and easy to see at a glance. I also like the Mind Map feature that it has-she calls it a Road Map. And the Not-To-Do list! We’ll see. They had the 2016 on sale so I got it to try it out and see if it works for me. If it does, I will order the 2017 one; if not, it really didn’t cost that much and I will be off to find another one! Love you Pip!